Hold Congress Accountable

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Key Vote

As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to sign onto a letter by Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL.) urging House leadership to hold firm on the earmark moratorium. House leadership placed a ban on the practice of earmarking bills at the start of the 112th Congress. Unfortunately, some members of Congress are calling on Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to restore earmarking in the 113th Congress.

The text of the letter is as follows:

The past two decades have seen a significant rise in our nation’s debt and deficit, with future increases scheduled for years to come. This debt and deficit spending has occurred under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, and Republican and Democrat control of Congress. All Americans recognize that something must be done to address our nation’s unsustainable fiscal situation.

That is why we strongly urge you to resist efforts by some Members of the House to restore earmarks in the 113th Congress. The American people spoke loud and clear in 2006, 2008, and 2010 that they wanted reforms and changes to the way Congress operates. They asked for changes, and the House listened. One of those changes was to amend the House Rules to prohibit the practice of earmarking. These special interest set asides should not be allowed to return to the House in any shape, form or fashion.

As the House debates our annual spending bills to fund the federal government, we thank you for your commitment to enforcing the current House Rules regarding earmarks, and urge you to reject calls to allow for the return of earmarks in the House of Representatives.

We need to ensure that the House leadership continues to ban the wasteful and irresponsible process of earmarking. Adding special interest earmarks to bills incentivizes many members of Congress to vote in favor of big spending bills that they otherwise would have opposed. I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to sign onto a letter telling House leadership to hold firm on the earmark moratorium.

Sincerely,

Matt KibbePresident and CEO FreedomWorks[Click here for a PDF version of this letter.]

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to sign the letter led by Reps. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.) to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) urging that any vote to bring back the pernicious practice of earmarks be public. FreedomWorks will key vote the signers of the letter, treating them as voting YES for the purposes of our 2018 Congressional Scorecard.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to support the Earmark Elimination Act, S. 2330, introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). The bill is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group that includes Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). The Earmark Elimination Act would make permanent the temporary moratorium on congressional earmarks put into effect in 2010 by creating a point of order against any provision within a bill that matches the definition of an earmark, and when raised would be stricken absent a two-thirds majority to override.

Not long after the 2016 presidential election, House Republicans entertained a rule change proposed by Reps. John Culberson (R-Texas), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) to bring back earmarks. The rule change, which likely would have passed if allowed to proceed, was quashed by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who felt that reviving the practice sent the wrong message after a “drain the swamp” election.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your Republican senator(s) and urge him or her to support the amendment introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to extend the existing ban on earmarks in the Senate. The amendment will be proposed in the Senate Republican Conference meeting Tuesday.

Shortly before adjourning for Thanksgiving, House Republicans met in private to vote on rules proposals for the 115th Congress, which begins on January 3. Among the proposals considered by the conference was one that would bring back earmarks.

As one of our over 5.7 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask them to vote YES on Rep. Sanford’s (R-SC) amendment to H.R. 5293, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2017. The amendment would keep in place the U.S. military’s current practice of providing vouchers to recruits allowing them to pick the shoe of their choice. Recently, legislation passed the House and Senate that would change this practice and cost the taxpayers over $300 million. Rep. Sanford’s amendment to H.R. 5293 is expected to be considered on the House floor tomorrow, June 16.